Sugar Shack Roadtrip

Road Trip

Martin opted for chewing on his aerial.

Our friend, Martin, invited us on a roadtrip for the Easter weekend. As all Canadians know, all good road trips are fueled by Tim Hortons (the Canadian equiv of Dunkin' Donuts...except better,  tastier and cheaper).

family breakfast

We bunked down at his cabin in the woods.  Breakfast was served at his Grandparent's nearby house.  Such lovely and welcoming people.

Local strip club  - hilariously out of place in this quaint town!

Sugar Shack / Cabin au sucre

Where the maple syrup magic happens!

One of the reasons for venturing out of this canadian yurt, was to visit a 'Cabin au Sucre' aka Sugar Shack.  A typical Québecois experience, where all the food is cooked in maple syrup.  As 'food' generally means 'meat' in Québec, it was fantastic that Martin had friends who not only run a Sugar Shack, but one which is vegetarian!  The owners, Mario & Carole, also grow in their garden a great deal of the goodies which they serve. 

inside the sugar shack

The tree-hugger in me had to ask...don't the trees mind?  The answer apparently is 'not if you let them just drip the maple water into buckets'.  As was the practice used where we visited (the alternative is a kind of reverse foie gras scenario, where the trees are drained using pumps & hoses).

If you look closely you can actually see the maple water dripping from the tree into the bucket (look for the 2 shadows).

A forest full of buckets collecting the maple water.

It takes 40 litres of maple water to make 1 litre of maple syrup - that's a lot of buckets of water to be lugging around the snowy forest!

Martin, his Mother & Gabriel

They put on a great spread - lots of different kinds of tarts, omelet, salad, potatoes, beans & quiche.  Plus instead of gravy, there was a huge JUG of maple syrup with which to drown every item on your plate.  y.u.m.  

Mario dripped caramelized maple syrup into the snow.

We got lolly-pop sticks to twist the syrup onto.  It was a sticky, sugary, warm yet snowy delicacy!

After the crêpes with...you guessed it, maple syrup - when we'd eaten so much that we could barely move - came the REALLY cool part...

Super happy me (new favourite crocheted fingerless gloves i made!)

Strawbale House
The owners of the sugar shack, who are living an inspiringly sustainable life, are also building a straw-bale extension onto their log home.

Building is still in progress, so we got a nice clear view of the straw bales.

Most of the joins were made with wooden bolts (excuse my lack of terminology)

Straw bale yurt?  Just putting it out there!

Doorway to Antoine's heaven.

Microbrewery Beer

Of all the moments in the whole adventure, i believe Antoine was the happiest in this shop... 

Part of the selection of micro-brewery available.  Beer from all over Québec.

Écossaise = Scottish & btw, what's 'Scotch Ale'?

indeed if we could alchemise something it would be water into alcohol

Visiting Sherbrooke



We spent a couple of nights with Martin's Dad in the city of Sherbrooke.  What an amazing host!  He welcomed us into his home, treated us to fine beer, best maple syrup ice-cream, we cooked delicious meals & received chauffeur driven guided tours!  

Maple syrup ice-cream. Maple syrup overdose? No chance! This is Canada.

Martin cooked vegetarian poutine (national dish of Québec)

Poutine:  thick cut chips, (veggie) gravy & local cheese.

He had an incredible vinyl collection & generally a house full of cool stuff.

Antoine kickin' it with Hendrix

Planning for another adventure (some of his friends even call him 'Tonio!)

A huge thank you to dear Martin, who drove over 2,000km and looked after us so well (vegetarian in Québec would be a whole other post!).  Heart-felt thank you to Martin's Dad, Martin's Grandparents, Mother & other family who fed and watered us (yes, there were more hot showers!).